Comments on: Goodbye to rugged American individualism?http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 19:15:28 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.3By: Russell Spearshttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-9596
Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:19:18 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-9596The right wind agenda has killed what ever rugged individualism there is; because for too long we believed their lies. No doubt the lack of protests show Americans have been too busy being individualists paying past bue bills and have cowered into submission by the few individuals that have actually control this country. No don’t wake up-you cannot handle what a greedy few has done to OUR-the majority’s, county.

How long will America listen to this pathetic chant? Well I hope it has lost its catchy sound bites and personalities-even Rush Limbaugh has few Republican friends now, because it was only celebrity and spectacle, nothing humanly important here. A whole generation of lives have been lost to VCRs and distractions that amounted to squabble and a fear that ran paycheck to paycheck. A well crafted symphony of obliteration that has left the many rugged individualists with nothing to show for their hard work. Plenty of people played by the rules and in the end after producing nothing but cheap marketable crap they are buried or burned with nothing to show for what was a real life potential:. I have seen a family business of 30 years come to its knees when his wife got cancer. Having lost everything at the first big medical issue, retirees get coned when the medical bills kick in and they loose everything they worked for in their rugged individualists country. We have a great country and I am glad Americans have begun to take it back from what is really just a pack of wolves at a kill. We have squandered too many lives all because some few Americans wanted to control and maintain a pathetic display of money.

This right wing ideology has ran its course and now has no new ideas, big surprise. And just like the Monopoly game has to end at some point, America must get up from this and find something important to do with their lives.

]]>By: Gordon Toudt, Sr.http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8945
Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:16:01 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8945We need to be ourselves, not a copy of Europe. Someone else may try to be first with an idea, but being first is not always being right! We must think seriously what are the ramifications of an act, then direct our thinking to those who can make good things happen.. Only well thought out ideas should be proposed. Hear both sides of an argument, then act well and good in the interests of God and His creations! Having the true interests of the bulk of humanity must be uppermost in the ideas of our leadership!
]]>By: Gonzohttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8856
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:38:04 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8856This in response to the Eurpdreamers. I’ve lived in Germany half my life and your premise of a idillic perfect europe doesn’t exist. As far a health care goes, German Docs differential between public (state) and private insurance. Guess which patients get the Professor?
As far as all being equal, if your family is not originally from Germany your seen as oustlander (out lander). Even if your are born in Germany. Not to meantion the regional differences, Swabian, Hessen , Bavarian……
Hey- they take care of all people. Did you hear about people freezing to death this winter, some in there own homes. How about the summer three years ago when allot of old French people died due to the heat.
Another point- we created this Utopia called Europe. We stop them from fighting among themselves. We beat them and told them how to live.
America is the most generous, selfless, country in the world. what you want is heaven and it just does exist in our realm.
]]>By: montimshttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8847
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:04:29 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8847“Greece, France, Bulgaria and Iceland have been shaken by riots, mass protests and strikes. No sign of that in the United States – yet.

Are rugged individualists less prone to protests and riots?”

Those countries have trades unions, who look out for their members’ rights and wellbeing. America has steadfastly (and often violently) refused to allow unions a foothold, branding them communist, unpatriotic, unAmerican, etc. This is why I and many thousands of others could have our employment recently terminated with no explanation or recourse. If workers were allowed to mobilize and protest en masse, they might be listened to a little more. As it is, the people who make up the electorate in this country have no rights just now to a job, insurance, or even a roof over their heads.

]]>By: D Barkhttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8846
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:32:50 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8846In the end human nature will trump this discussion, everyone loves a politician handing stuff out. Why spend 800 bbn – why not $800 trillion? As the incentive for productive work declines in the US over the next decade because of this liberal debacle, so will invention, world safety and world creation of wealth. The Europeans have never been capable of protecting themselve, and when one of our ports is finally incenerated by one of the Gitmo releasees it will be a sad day. That, my commrades will trump the liberal whining for big Socialism. I won’t really feel that good saying “I told you so”.

Sadly, its likely we have created so much wealth, that our generation has lost sight of how it was done. The terrible ways of the past aren’t all bad. The 85% media that voted the Socialist in have both personal and professional reputations to protect. In short its like the Man made Global Warming hoax – its part of their religious identity. As for me, I’ll never spend another dime on a Reuters, AP, USA today, NYT, etal media product. That’s where I’m voting with my remaining dollars. And I mean never, checked out, NADA. Union “Journalists” will find a way to get a piece of bailout money that they are incapable of earning on their own. Capitalism is dead. Tax success, forget the fact that when big oil made $40 bbn that $10 bbn went into taxes/medicare/medicaid/roads/etal and Union and state pensions swelled. Thats true wealth creation. Liberals today tax acheivement as unfair. Payment for production and acheivement? Gone.

Have a good evening.

]]>By: Skiphttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8837
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 01:52:16 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8837For me, the US is not becoming Europe FAST ENOUGH!
]]>By: Nubohttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8832
Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:22:29 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8832I see “rugged individualism” every day on the highway as people cut me off, tailgate and try to keep me from merging. I see “rugged individualism” nearly everyday when I read about the latest homicides in the paper. “Rugged individualism” rears its head continually when I see all the people who just don’t care about anyone but themselves. I wave goodbye to American jobs offshored to maximize profits for our “Rugged individualists”. I’ve had just about enough of rugged individualism.
]]>By: Christohttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8822
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:09:17 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8822In Oregon there is a Baby at OHSU, that needs a heart transplant. The babies parents have insurance, but it won’t cover the Million++ price tags the Dr.s require to do the surgery and replace the heart. So the baby dies. This is happening everywhere, many many children are taken off the list, due to the economic statis of their parents. What i want to know is, will Medicare / Socialized Medical coverage end the needless death of our children. The system now rewards the insurance companies, including the Dr’s who are content with bankrupting hard working Americans. This issue is from bottom up, not top down. Obviously you that speak against medicare such as what Canada has, haven’t lost a precious baby or child, who other wise could have lived a productive life, if they recieved treatment.Show me a Insurance company who cares, there’s not one…Why do you think Lieberman hangs on the outside, he has been in the big Insurance companies pocket for years, right along with many Republicans. Look at ther voting records. I know in my heart, the young people who came out to vote get this. If they have anything to do with it, the old system will die, and a system that helps all, from the bottom up will come to light…the dross is floating to the top
]]>By: Joehttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8802
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:59:40 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8802Let me lay out some plain facts. My wife and I are productive individuals. We work 4 jobs between us. We own 2 businesses. Because of bureaucracy and taxes, at the end of this year, only I will be employed working 8-5 for a corporation. The businesses will be dissolved and we will not longer pay fees/taxes/licenses to govt or hire employees. (If people are not working, it is going to be hard to collect taxes!) I may be one of the first to opt out of the system, but experience has taught me I am never the last. There is no longer any incentive for us to work hard if we cannot keep what we earn or retain the autonomy to act in the client’s best interest. We can better use the time to produce things for ourselves that we now buy and earn income “on paper” rather than by actually doing some thing or producing some thing useful. Govt needs people like us much more than we need govt.

I understand that the state can steal and confiscate my money without my permission. Taking what does not belong to you is still stealing. (Thou shalt not steal. Any one remember hearing that? It does not say “except for govt”.) If it is mandated that every one will “participate” in the socialized health care program, I want to know how it will be done. Will they haul me in in handcuffs and truss me up or drug me to force me to submit to an annual medical exam? Or is it just my money they are after? This is not the kind of medical care I need or want, so why should I pay for it? I know what I am talking about because I have seen the legislation. The sheeple who believe they will get some thing for nothing do not understand that it will be controlled by special interests who intend to profit.

By the way, one of the businesses I will close is medical. The best and brightest have opportunities else where. They will evacuate first, leaving only workers who have no better opportunities.

We do not need more govt intrusion into every aspect of our lives. We need many of the programs and laws already in existence repealed.

I suuggest govt just leave people alone.
What a revolutionary concept!

]]>By: Joshhttp://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2009/02/18/goodbye-to-rugged-american-indvidualism/#comment-8792
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:29:03 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/?p=2122#comment-8792Mr. Debusmann, you ask why Europeanization is such a bad thing and contend that the standard of living is higher in Europe citing statistics from the United Nation’s annual Human Development Index. I contend that the UN Index is not a true measurement of standard of living. It is instead a measure of only those attributes that the UN values. My spouse is an immigrant from Europe who left because of her perception that the standard of living in her native Italy was declining. She was escaping the European nanny state. I don’t believe she is alone. In fact, the USA supports more legal immigrants than any other nation in the world. Each year there are over 75,000 people that decide to leave Europe for the USA. (http://www.migrationpolicy.org/Factshee t_102904.pdf)

Is it not a higher standard of living that these people are seeking as they define it?